Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-07
CHICO.
The City Of Roses and It's Sur
rOundingS.
A MOST ENCHANTING LOCALITY,
A Wintersess Climate and Its Causes
--IneShaustible Fertility of Soil
and UnexceIIed Productions.
A MOST ENCHANTING LOCALITY.
AN ATTRACTIVE FIELD FOR THE
HOME-SEEKER.
Prfncely Estates-Extensive Agricultural
and Fruit-Growing Interests-Frost-
less Foothfn Lands-Orange and
Lemon Culture.

In the valley of the Sacramento, the
largest and best of the Pacific coast drainage
basins, on the banks of two of the clearest
crystal snow-water streams, in the open
ings of e-branching giant oak groves.
stands Chico, "The City of Roses"
From her streets in the south can be seen
the clear blue outlines of Mt. Diablo: in
the west the rounded domes of the coast
range; in the north Shasta's peerless cone
rising out Of the great valley and stand
ing clear and sharp against the deep blue
OF the sky, and in the east the great
Sierra Nevada range, uplifting itself to an
elevation of 5000 feet, mighty barrier
between the warm hower-laden valleys of
the coast and the colder basins to the
east.
THE FERTILE VALLEY LANDS.
In this vast amphitheater of surrounding
hills and mountains is land as rich as
any in the valley of the Nile, the Po, or
the Yangtze, and with climate so warm,
balmy and hospitable, that all the verdure
of the temperate and semi-tropic zones
finds most congenial home This region
was naturally so rich and so beautiful that
1t extorted the most extravagant praises
from the early Jesuit Fathers, from the
first American explorers, and from the
Argonauts in the first days of gold hunt
ing.
The whole Sacramento valley has soil
that was deposited in what was once a
great lake, into which, for centuries, in
Vulnerable streams from all directions
poured the rich weatherings and washings
of the mountains and hillsides, laying up
an inexhaustible store of fertile material
for the uses of the grazier, the grain-grower
and the orchardist. In no single spot of
this wide valley did provident Nature de-
posit richer and more lasting stores of
fertile material for all kinds of vegetation
than here around favored Chico
NATURAL PRODUCTIONS AND PIONEER M
PREssIoNS.
When the first explorers came they
found the wild oats growing higher than
their horses backs; indigenous clover car
peting the ground in tangled masses, and
great oaks with long-reaching arms ex-
tending shade and shelter. On these most
luxurient of natures pastures herds of elk,
antelope and deer grazed and fattened.
To the bold and adventurous American
pioneers-Bidwell, Lassen, Farwell, Grid
ley and others-this seemed the one en-
chanting spot of earth in which to live,
and here they made their homes and
formed the first settlement of the upper
Sacramento. The gold-seekers, coming to
this coast to make their pile and then
return to their Eastern homes" saw the
beauties and advantages of this locality,
and when their "pile" was made they
settled here and sent for their wives and
children, or for the girls they had left be-
hind themIin the valleys of the Atlantic
slope. And here they live to bless the
star of destiny that led them to this spot
THE VALLEY LANDS.
That portion of the valley Immediately
surrounding Chico runs from the bank of
the Sacramento river east for distance OF
ten miles, where it meets the lower Sierra
Nevada, and gradually merges into its
long, gently-sloping foothills and valleys.
The same rich soils and great oak openings
extend north and south for forty miles,
giving an area o. fertile soil tributary to
the town of not less than 400 square miles,
or 5000 acres.
FRosTLESS FOOTHILLS.
To the east, up the western slopes of the
Sierra Nevadas, for a distance of fifteen
miles from the eastern line of the valley
land, is the warm "gold belt,7 free from
frosts, where there are deep, rich valleys,
sloping hill and mountain sides, with deep
soils, nutritious grasses, swift, clear streams,
and cold, bubbling springs. Still higher
on the mountain sides are the forest belts
that darken the land with their dense
foliage. In this frostless foothill belt,
there are very many thousand acres where
beautiful homes can be made amid abun-
dant fruits and flowers. In all, it is safe
to say, that there are 100000 acres of land
tributary to Chico.
THE CLIMATE.